The present invention relates to the field of containers and to the field of insulated containers. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of insulated shipping containers utilizing sustainable materials including recycled post-industrial, pre-consumer natural fiber. The containers according to the present invention may be used in transporting and storing objects which may be at a temperature that is different from the temperature outside the container.
Temperature sensitive products need to be transported from time to time. For instance, certain medications may need to be kept cool relative to temperatures outside of the container. In other instances, food may need to be kept warm relative to temperatures outside of the container. As a result of these needs, packaging has been designed to maintain an internal temperature according to the requirements of the product. Some packaging may utilize electro-mechanical devices such as refrigeration, heat exchangers, or heat sinks in order to provide a required steady temperature. Other packaging may utilize foams, plastics, and other polymers along with cool packs, water ice, or dry ice in order to maintain the required temperature environment inside the packaging.
However, many of these packages and devices are expensive and heavy (as with the refrigeration and heat sinks) or are harmful to the environment (as with some refrigeration and also the foams and plastics) or both. Because of these problems, some have devised products which may be made from post-consumer waste such as recycled cotton gathered from used clothing. However, these products may be prone to contamination from yarn dies, applied chemicals, and other contaminants which the clothing may have acquired during the period of use. The post-consumer material must be cleaned and shredded ahead of reprocessing, however, this process does not eliminate yarn dies and the possibility of contaminants. Most post-consumer waste retains a blue colorization after processing. Therefore, because of the contamination and residual colorization issues these products require that any insulation manufactured from post-consumer cotton be wrapped in another material such as plastic. This use of plastic and other barriers undermines the environmental incentive for using a recycled product by posing additional environmental concerns. It may also further add to the manufacturing costs.
Accordingly, there is a long felt need in the art for a packaging material which affords safe transportation of temperature sensitive materials, which has a consistent density, which maintains an in internal temperature relative an external temperature, which is efficiently and economically manufactured, which is lightweight, and which minimizes negative impacts to the environment.